At least 18 killed in Bangladesh’s election-day violence

Violence swept across Bangladesh as it held parliamentary elections Sunday, leaving at least 18 dead as the ruling party steamed ahead in the polls. An opposition boycott affected the vote, resulting in sparse voter turnout in the South Asian nation.

Protesters were shot at by police after they torched some 100
polling stations and seized and burnt ballot papers in an attempt
to disrupt voting. Two of the 18 killed were beaten to death
while defending polling stations in the north, where the violence
was most pronounced.

“We've seen thousands of protesters attack polling booths and
our personnel at a number of locations with petrol bombs,”
Syed Abu Sayem, police chief of the northern district of Bogra,
told AFP. Police ended up firing at protesters in six separate
incidents.

“We were forced to open fire after thousands of them attacked
us with guns and small bombs,” said Mokbul Hossain, police
chief in the northern town of Parbatipur.

While AFP cites police as saying that 18 people died during the
day in election-related violence, the opposition claims that as
many as 22 died in the turmoil. However, dozens more were killed
in the days preceding the vote, and many also held back from
voting because of the fear of violence.

The outcome of the election was never in doubt, as fewer than
half the 300 seats were contested. By late Sunday, the ruling
Awami League was set to win amid a boycott by the dominant
opposition party. Official results are to be announced no later
than Monday.

Voting ended at 10:00 GMT, with voter turnout expected to have
been low; official turnout figures have not yet been released.
The two-day opposition boycott was based on the premise that they
considered the election a “scandalous farce,” while international
observers called the elections flawed, Reuters reports.

The low voter turnout could potentially exert pressure on Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina to seek a compromise with the opposed
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and could possibly result in
new elections.

“The immediate fallout of this dismal voter turnout will be
the Hasina government coming under greater pressure to hold talks
with the opposition,” economist and former governmental
adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, told Reuters. The opposition had
requested that a neutral, caretaker government be installed prior
to any new election, to ensure ballot rigging doesn’t take place.

“They must stop the violence before dialogue for the next
elections can start,” Junior Law Minister Mohammad Quamrul
Islam told reporters.